The photographers lighting up the field resemble gentle brush strokes, creating luminous shapes in the dark, warm Columbia night.

It is not a cornfield. It is a photo experiment. As the sun was slowly turning from a blinding glare to a quiet trickle of light over the horizon, staff photographers from the Missourian at the Shryock farm corn maze are scattered inside the puzzle firing flashes to create playful rivers of light in the darkened, solemn forest. On a platform elevated above the maze is the camera, capturing the shining white beams as they pierce through the rows of corn for mere seconds.

Above us, the night is turning obsidian black, but behind us, the moon is rising, like a bright orange drop of light on deep black velvet.